India, in the last few years, has seen a big boom in the number of start-ups and young entrepreneurs, most of them being young minds fresh-out-of-college! We have seen numerous such ventures with out-of-the-box ideas that have gained huge popularity among modern-day Indians.
All these entrepreneurs have their own stories of their start-ups, about how they built a fortune, starting with a shoe string budget and a small team. But they all have something in common- hard work and perseverance.
Talking of the hotel industry in India, it has always been rigid in its approach, be it check-ins and check-outs or admission policies. Customers have always faced this menace of having to pay extra charges owing to untimely check-outs. Relaxation isn’t really what you get when such regulations bind you down. Fortunately, a few startups are addressing this problem nowadays. Brevistay is one such startup making stays easier and hotels friendlier!
So let us meet the young mind behind it, take a look at his journey and what plans he has on the cards for his start-up!
- Please introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m Prateek Singh, 2015 batch pass-out in B.Tech CSE from Amity University, Noida. I belong from Lucknow, a passionate coder, an employee turned into an entrepreneur.
- We’d like to know more about your start-up, Brevistay. What services do you provide?
Brevistay is a unique, first-of-its-kind venture that allows customers to rent hotel rooms on an hourly basis. There are options to rent rooms for 3,6, and 12 hours.
Besides providing for hourly stays, it also makes all the more convenient for travelers by allowing flexible check-ins and check-outs; this is a refreshing change from the monotonous 12-noon check-in timing! Brevistay allows customers to choose check-in times by own, even at 6 AM Morning without any hassle. Hotel Hours starts from your chosen check-in time.
‘Short stay, safe stay’ is our motto; we live by it.
- Where is Brevistay based and how much is it expanding?
We started the journey with just five cities including Delhi and Lucknow, and we are now operating in 10+ cities all over India.
- Who are your target categories of customers? What problems does Brevistay seek to solve?
Our target customers are tourists on the go, business travelers, unmarried couples and students travelling for admissions, examinations or interviews.
The hotel industry in India is largely dominated by 12 noon check-ins. This becomes a problem for travelers having flights/ trains at odd hours and in the case of delays in checking out, extra charges are incurred! Brevistay is all set to change this orthodox norm.
We also address the need for privacy and quality time needed by unmarried couples who are not allowed to rent rooms at most hotels. At Brevistay, unmarried couples will also be allowed to rent rooms on producing valid identity proofs. The rates are also very reasonable, on a per-hour basis.
- Who are you co-founders and how the work is divided between them? How did you build your team?
My co-founders are Shubham Agarwal, Avnish Kumar, and Aditya Naithani.
Shubham is responsible for handling the team, whereas Avnish is heading operations of Brevistay. Aditya is heading technology related work. We have a team of 10 dynamics in people’s who believe in the concept, and they work remotely in the various domain having a common vision of providing flexibility to customers and helping unmarried young couples find private space.
- What challenges you faced during the initial days and how did you overcome them?
People walk in the hotel and ask the receptionist to give them a room for few hours is something that raises eyebrows & questions. So, change the mentality of an hotelier as well as of people were the challenge we took up to bring a change in the society. We are trying to break this taboo that has developed over the years through Brevistay which provides accommodation for a short stay. We thought this is one thing which is related social taboo and can be the win-win situation for hoteliers as well as customers, so we thought about implementing this.
- What is the Unique Selling Point (USP) of Brevistay?
The provision of booking rooms by hours, flexible check-in and a friendly environment for unmarried couples are our USPs!
- Do you think that you have to make a positive impact on society?
We are changing mentality of not only hoteliers but also society through providing room on hourly basis. Booking a hotel room just for a couple of hours is still a taboo in our country, and we are trying to change it. Couples on local id were not able to book rooms in hotels, but there is no law which prohibits unmarried couple’s to stay in same room irrespective of the city they belong to. We are able to educate hoteliers on this part, and we are educating our society for progressive changes. This is creating an enormous impact on society, and they are changing these days.
- What motivated you to choose entrepreneurship over service?
Yes, I was working at European MNC when this idea of startup appears in my mind. Behind leaving the well settled corporate job and doing a startup, motivation from someone I admire plays an important role. According to him, there are two ways you can reach your destination, either by a car or by bus. If you are traveling by bus, you need to follow the rules. The second way is to take your car out and go where you want. I had taken a bus (job) initially & didn’t like it much, so I decided to own a car(startup) and solve something which the society is in need of.
- Could you comment on “entrepreneurial trends”? Do you think today there are more/fewer entrepreneurs compared to 10 years ago? How would you explain this development? What is it going to look like in the future?
I am pleased to see this “entrepreneurial trend,” with this trend we are creating more jobs in our country, people are coming with innovative ideas these days and which is helping society in positive ways. People are more attracted to entrepreneurship this day than 10 years ago. They are happy to take the risk now, and many of them are doing better than they might have done work for some company. This development is interesting, but there is one alarming situation with the startup these days, they are more focus on customer acquisition than retention. In the world of competition, there are many startups working on single idea and customer is clever enough to go with the company providing more discount. This discount war is making the whole ecosystem bad. This is the reason, most of the companies fail, the success rate of startup is less than 2% which made me think there is something wrong what we are doing. Startups should start focusing on customer retention than acquisition. In future, I see a progressive country with less unemployment.
- What message do you have for budding entrepreneurs?
Chase your dreams, they do come true. Stay focused and keep on targeting bull’s eye, you will achieve success. It takes time, be patient, but you will get the fruit of your hard work.
Fear will try to cheat you out of best things in your life. Don’t let it.
- How accessible is Brevistay?
Brevistay is easily accessible to our customers. One can visit our website Brevistay to enter your check-in and check-out dates and location. In the case of any assistance before or after making your booking, our friendly customer service is just a call away at 91-9717386056 or 91-9871958885. We’ll go out of our way to help you!
